Carrying baggage

The past few years, I have become quite skilled at going through things and weeding out what is unimportant, and keeping only the important things. When we moved from Canada, we only came with a few suitcases of things.  We decided we were not going to ship things. Our furniture had seen its "best before date" come and go and so we decided to get rid of it all except for one piece which we keep at a friends house. Lots of ornaments and souvenirs were either given away or thrown out. Items which had not seen the world other than through a cardboard box for years were discarded. Momentos and family heirlooms were examined and only the best ones were kept.

This was a tough process. Saying good bye to things can be hard- hard because they are filled with memories. Hard because maybe Uncle Joe gave us that or Aunt Wilma wanted us to have something. But sometimes you have to let go. We knew that if we were moving half way around the world, then we had to be ruthless with our discernment. Only the best could stay. Everything else had to go.

I think our memories are like that. There are people who have helped us along the way, who have encouraged us, who have blessed us.  We want to remember those. We also want to remember the lessons that we have learned about helping others and how to be a great neighbour. We want to hold on to these memories as long as we can, because when the way gets tough, it is those wonderful memories that will inspire us with hope.

Human beings also have negative feelings and experiences which hold them back. We hold grudges, we blame a whole group on the basis of the actions of one person, we seperate ourselves from our fellow human beings. We allow these feelings to pollute our relationships with others. I think this is like the usage baggage that we had to get rid of when we came to Australia. We need to let go of our hard feelings, our grudges, our pain and move forward. We need to lighten our emotional loads in order that we can move forward.

Lightening our emotional loads is like trying to discern what items to keep and what items to throw away. Lightening our emotional loads won't be easy. It is hard work to let go. We have to learn to forgive, to forget, to forge new relationships. But when we do so the road forward will be much easier. Blessings.

Fear no more

I think I am a lucky person. I don't frighten easily. Oh that doesn't mean that there aren't things which scare me. I am not one to take a lot of risks. You won't find me climbing Everest or lining up to do one of those super roller coasters. Oh I might climb small hills or do more reasonable amusement rides, but I know that somethings are just out of my comfort zone. I am not crazy about snakes and spiders, but have adopted a I won't bother them if they don't bother me attitude" about them. You won't see me driving at 160 kph, but it is not that I am afraid to do so, I just don't see any reason to do so. I have my irrational fear (birds flying near me frighten me) but when you get right down to it, I don't think fear controls my life.

But right now we seem to be living in a time of fear. Politicians in this country and around the world are using fear in order to get elected. The media is constantly telling us stories that cause us to fear the other. Even though the chances of getting killed in a terrorist attack are smaller than getting killed crossing a street or being hit by lightning, the media and politicians have made terrorism our number one concern.  In a world where fear becomes our prime motivator, distrust develops, and hatred of the stranger increases. Hatred often leads to violence. Violence makes us more afraid. Discord wins out.

The Late American President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, told a world suffering from the Great Depression that we have nothing to fear but fear itself. He knew that if people were afraid to invest, if people were afraid to buy, if people were afraid to hire more workers, then the economy was doomed. Only by showing confidence, would the world be able to lift itself out of the Depression. Fear for Franklin Roosevelt was a living entity that destroyed all good things. Fear was a powerful force that could destroy the world.

FDR showed that fear could be conquered. If we worked together, good things were possible. If we worked together and put aside our fears, our world would be a better place.

Our world needs an FDR right now. Someone who can tell us to put aside our fears and move forward together rather than to live in fear. Fear is a powerful force. It has taken control of our press and our politicians. It is destroying our world. But together we can overcome the power of fear. If we work together, we can make our world a more human place. Now if only I could learn to like spiders.  Blessings.